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Thursday, July 19, 2012

Cougar Photographed In Marquette County

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July
18, 2012

CONTACT:Dr. Patrick RuszORDennis Fijalkowski

Director of Wildlife
ProgramsExecutive
Director

Michigan Wildlife ConservancyMichigan Wildlife Conservancy

(989) 865-6701(517)
641-7677

Cougar Photographed in MarquetteCounty

BATH, Mich.
– The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy (MWC), a non-profit organization based in Bath, near Lansing, recently
confirmed the presence of a cougar in southern MarquetteCounty.The cougar was photographed by a cased and
padlocked trail camera on private property on June 1, 2012.The property owners will also share their information with the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) but do not wish to be publicly identified.

Dr. Patrick Rusz, Director of Wildlife
Programs for the Conservancy, and Michael Zuidema, a retired DNR forester, verified the trail camera’s location
on a well-worn wildlife trail atop a wooded ridge.The camera has also photographed wolves, coyotes,
fishers and numerous other species at the same site over a four year period.

The
MWC is publicizing this photograph because it may be the best, clearest photograph
of a wild Michigan cougar ever taken.It
is also unusually interesting because Mr. Zuidema has recorded over twenty
credible cougar sightings in the same vicinity since the 1970s.These include several sightings within a few
miles of the trail camera location.

Dr.
Rusz stated that “the long history of sighting reports in the area indicates
the cougar photographed on June 1 may be part of a resident population rather
than a wandering cat from a western state.”Dr. Rusz has studied cougars for the Conservancy for 14 years and is
co-author of a peer-reviewed study that confirmed cougars in both peninsulas of
Michigan by
analyses of DNA in droppings.He has also identified a long list of
additional physical evidence dating back to 1966, and notes that Michigan State
College zoologist Richard Manville documented several cougar sightings or
incidents when he inventoried the fauna of Marquette County’s Huron Mountains
from 1939 to 1942.

The large volume of recent Michigan
evidence includes fifteen MDNR
confirmations since the agency formed a cougar team of specially trained
biologists in 2008.The most recent MDNR confirmation occurred last May when a cougar
was photographed with a hand-held camera near Skanee in Baraga County.That photograph was taken about 50 miles
north of the MarquetteCounty trail camera
location.

“The
MDNR cougar team should now look at the very good evidence of a remnant cougar
population collected before 2008,” said Bill Taylor, President of the
Conservancy.“They could still easily
verify cougar photos taken in the 1990’s in Alcona and Oscoda Counties in the
Lower Peninsula and some others.The
vegetation and other landmarks needed to confirm the photos are still there.”

The
Michigan Wildlife Conservancy is a non-profit citizens group established in
1982 to restore Michigan’s wildlife legacy.The Conservancy has restored more than 8,200 acres of wetlands, 2,500
acres of prairies and grasslands, and hundreds of miles of trout streams, and
helped with several rare species recoveries and the creation of many backyard
habitats.The Conservancy website, www.miwildlife.org,
highlights some of the completed habitat restorations and other work.

###

NOTE:The cougar photograph from the trail
camera is attached.To compare this
photograph with photos of a wolf, coyote, raccoon, and porcupine taken by the
same camera in the same location visit the homepage of the Conservancy
(www.miwildlife.org).